To finish up my 3rd week in Seattle, I’ve finally put down a deposit for an apartment in Capitol Hill that seems to have a nice view. Originally I really wanted a loft, but the ones that I’ve seen in Seattle seemed fairly half-assed. Also managed to sign the lease to rent out my townhome too, so there’s a nice completion of the circle there.
But what people really care about is all the restaurants that I’ve hit this week:
Macrina Bakery – had some baked goods for breakfast. Their breakfast menu itself looked work trying for later.
Uli’s Famous Sausage – sausage by a very reputable man with a mustache.
Sub Sand – a somewhat interesting take on
Palace Kitchen – another Tom Douglas joint. Meal was nice, but not mindblowing as per what the praise for Tom Douglas would seem to imply.
Sub Sand – an interesting little joint that served subs with asian fillings. They were tasty, but the 1 person trying to prepare all the subs made this a much slower experience than subway.
Sweet Iron Waffles – excellent belgian waffles. They get some nice caramelization on their syrup which makes them extra tasty.
Nell’s Restaurant – Place with a decent view of green lake, if you happened to get one of the 4 tables by the window. Excellent food as well.
Le Panier – neat french bakery, had a nice croissant there.
Crush – It may not look like much, being a converted historic home, but it was by far the best place that we went to for Restaurant Week. Our waiter(Steve) had a great passion for wine, and actually gave us refills on the house when our appetizers came a bit late(and thus we had finished the wine pairing. The whole restaurant week experience was like a sped up version of some of the nicer restaurants that I’ve had the pleasure to dine at recently(Volt and The Dining Room). I had an appetizer of a well prepared Carlton Farms pork belly, which was fatty, but somehow managed to have a slightly sweet finish to go with the balanced riesling that was paired with it as an opener. For the main entree there was a perfectly prepared sous vide Pained Hills flank steak(nice warm red all the way through with just enough char for flavor on the edge). For dessert(since I’m not a huge sweets fan) we had a nice cheese assortment, kumquat sauce, and amazingly delicious homemade crackers. I don’t think I’ve ever had crackers that wowed me, and there they were. Steve(taking extra care of us) also brought us an order of their Buttermilk Beignets(basically a french donut) which was also fantastic. Granted we only got to sample 2 dishes and 2 desserts, this restaurant week experience was clearly the tip of an iceberg. I’ll definitely have to follow Steve’s advice and come back on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when they can appropriately care for favored patrons. And plus any evening when I end up by the kitchen geeking about sous vide cooking gear is a win!
NYC Deli Market – not that exciting as a breakfast place
Thai Curry Simple – Basically Srees, but in Thai form. How could you go wrong?
Trellis – to finish out restaurant week, we hit Trellis, which had potential, but either just didn’t feel the need to execute for restaurant week. The salad that I had basically was large slabs on a plate that was far too small to do any cutting on. The tri-pepper hangar steak was well seasoned, but was served on an overkillisn mound of root vegetables.
Saigon Bistro – decent quick pho in Uwajimaya
Georgio’s Subs – ok quick subs, pretty much all over the Seattle area.
Claim Jumper – It tastes chainy.
Big Bang Cafe – Cute little breakfast place in belltown. Had a nice sandwich, but their breakfast burritos seemed to be a good item.
Pike Street Fish Fry – I was kinda expecting more of this place that seemed to portray themselves as a hole in the wall fish and chips place. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing, but the cod and fries seemed like a safe bet.
Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream – nice little ice cream shop by one of the apartment buildings that I looked at. They had a fair amount of interesting flavors, and make their own waffle cones.
Zeek’s Pizza – The pizza flavors reminded me of a California pizza kitchen, but they were actually all done really well(in stark contrast to CPK). The Thai one on was delicious, even if it’d kill Muffin.
18 more places for a total of 50 food serving places. Of the actual restaurant week places, most were of a decent enough quality that I’d consider going back, with one(Szerac) which I’d refuse to return to and one(Crush) which I would make a serious effort to go back(and maybe on a semi-regular basis if I could convince others to go with me).
